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Displaying an OMNIbus Web GUI Map and AEL on the same page in older releases

From OMNIbus Web GUI 7.3.1 fix pack 4 onwards, when configuring a map, you can choose the target action for active elements on the map such that it will update an AEL portlet which is placed on the same TIP page as the map itself. This could be used so that when an active element on the map (such as a button, image, or monitor box) is clicked, the AEL which is visible on the same page will be updated to display the events for the corresponding filter of the clicked item.

However, for older releases of Web GUI these options are not available. In this blog entry I will show how you can simulate a similar set up using a custom web page, and in particular an HTML frameset. It is not quite as elegant a solution, but may serve the needs of some users adequately, nevertheless.

In my example I will be creating a new page in TIP which contains a partial world map at the top, onto which buttons are placed to represent events in the UK, USA, and Canada. When I click on one of these buttons I want an AEL to appear underneath the map, showing me all of the events from the clicked location.

I start by defining the filters which will match the events from each Location. I then define my map, and add an active button for each location. In the properties for the buttons, on the "Associations" tab I associate the appropriate filter with the button, and I choose "Open URL" as the Action, and for "URL" I enter the URL for an AEL which uses the same filter. To improve the layout of my eventual page I also include some URL parameters which will hide various parts of the AEL I do not need, such as the status bar and title. So, in my example the URL for the "UK" button is:

Now, importantly, for the "Target" of the map button, I enter "_myAELFrame". This will be the name of a frame in an HTML frameset I will create in my page, and is the frame where I will want my AEL to appear. The screenshot below shows the Associations tab for my "UK" map button.

Once my map has been saved, I need to create the web page which will house my map and AEL which, as I mentioned above, will be done using an HTML frameset, where the upper frame displays the map, and the lower frame displays an AEL. Here is a screenshot of my HTML page content:

As you can see, I have named the frames in the frameset, and the lower frame is named "_myAELFrame", which was what we used as the target for the buttons on the map. I save this page to a custom area on the server.

Finally, I create a new page in TIP containing a Web Widget portlet, and then configure it to use my custom HTML page as its content. When I then open that page, initially I see my partial world map and active buttons representing events in the USA, UK, and Canada, and beneath it an AEL showing my all current events. If I then click on one of the buttons on my map (say, the "UK" button), the contents of the lower frame in my frameset is updated to display a new AEL which shows only the events from the UK location:

One limitation of this solution, compared to the use of inter-portlet communication (as available from Web GUI 7.4.1.4 onwards is that each time you click on a map button it causes a new AEL to load in the lower frame, which is a little slower than simply re-using an already-open AEL. Additionally, since the AEL is not housed in an AEL portlet, any script tools which use TIP actions cannot be run. However, despite these limitations, there may still be some benefit in this solution for some users.